Amazon Negative Keywords: What you need to know and how to use negative keywords on Amazon to make more money
In 2023, Amazon negative keywords are your secret weapon to improve the performance of your PPC campaigns. By excluding specific search queries from triggering your ads, you can avoid unnecessary expenses on your Amazon Advertising and boost your product rankings.
Is it possible to create campaigns without using negative keyword targeting? Yes.
Is it a good idea? No.
If you’re an Amazon Seller and haven’t been using Amazon negative keywords, you’re very likely wasting your valuable ad spend. But don’t worry, we can help!
Here’s what we’ll talk about…
Key Takeaways
- Using negative keywords in Amazon PPC campaigns helps avoid wasted ad spend and improve ad performance.
- Neglecting negative keywords can result in unnecessary and wasteful ad spend, reducing the opportunity for actual conversions.
- Not using negative keywords can lead to lower product rankings on Amazon and cannibalization of keywords, reducing clicks.
- Strategies for using and finding negative keywords include campaign sculpting, optimizing bids, conducting better market research, and preventing keyword cannibalization.
What are negative keywords on Amazon?
When you enter a regular keyword into a manual campaign you’re telling Amazon that’s where you want your ad to show up.
Learning Amazon PPC Made Us Millionaires
You can do it too.
Subscribe now to get free PPC guides.
A negative keyword has the opposite effect. Using a negative keyword tells Amazon where not to show your ad.
In other words, using negative keyword targeting can stop Amazon from showing your ads in places where it’s not relevant and therefore not profitable for you.
Why you should definitely use negative keywords for Amazon pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns
Using negative keywords helps you to make sure you’re reaching the most relevant audience and prevents you from paying for clicks from people who aren’t really interested in your product.
So if you’re letting a campaign run without negating keywords then you’re probably wasting money on clicks from people who are very unlikely to ever convert.
Not to mention, Amazon really likes happy customers. So they only want to show highly relevant ads. If your ads keep showing up on irrelevant searches and your CTR drops then Amazon is also going to start dropping your organic ranking.
Yikes!
What are the match keyword types of negative keywords?
We’ve got an article explaining the differences between match types for regular (or positive) keywords here.
For negative keywords, there are just two match types:
Negative Phrase Match Keywords
- Amazon will not show an ad on searches that contain your negative keywords in the same order.
So if your negative keyword is “ceramic measuring spoon” your ad would be blocked from appearing on these searches
- White ceramic measuring spoon
- Ceramic measuring spoon for cooking
- Cute ceramic measuring spoon
But it would still show up on these because they don’t contain the entire phrase.
- Ceramic spoon
- Measuring spoon
Negative Exact Match Keywords
Amazon will not show an ad on searches that contain your exact negative keywords.
Using the same example as above. Your ad would be blocked from appearing on this exact search.
- Ceramic measuring spoon
But it would still show up on these searches because they don’t match your keyword exactly.
- White ceramic measuring spoon
- Ceramic measuring spoon for cooking
- Cute ceramic measuring spoon
- Measuring spoon
(Special note: plurals and misspellings are included. So, “ceramic measuring spoons” or “ceramic measurng spoon” would also get blocked in both match types.)
How to find negative keywords on Amazon
Ok, it sounds like I should definitely be using negative keywords. But how do I know which keywords I should make negative?
It really comes down to finding those keywords that aren’t converting. It’s all going to depend on your goals but here are a few pieces of low-hanging fruit you can look at to get started.
Keywords with high ad spend and zero conversions
Keywords with a low CTR and zero conversions
Keywords with lots of clicks and zero conversions
Even if you’re only able to identify a few keywords to negate in each campaign you’re already going to be adding those dollars back to your bottom line.
How to add negative keywords to your Amazon PPC campaign
When optimizing your Amazon PPC campaign, it’s important to know where you can add negative keywords to improve ad targeting.
By strategically adding negative keywords, you can prevent your ads from appearing in irrelevant search queries and avoid wasted ad spend.
Understanding the different types of negative keyword match options and implementing them effectively can help refine your target audience and maximize the performance of your campaigns.
Where can you add negative Amazon keywords in your Amazon Ads?
You can add negative Amazon keywords in the campaign settings to prevent your ads from appearing for specific search queries. Here’s how you can do it:
- Go to your Amazon PPC campaign settings.
- Look for the section where you can manage your keywords.
- Find the option to add negative keywords.
- Enter the set of keywords that you want to exclude from triggering your ads.
- Save your changes and monitor the performance of your ads
By adding negative keywords on Amazon, you have more control over who sees your ads. This helps ensure that your ads are shown to a relevant audience, increasing the chances of conversions and reducing wasted ad spend.
It’s important to regularly review and update your negative keyword list based on data-driven insights and market research. This way, you can continuously refine your targeting and optimize the performance of your Amazon PPC campaigns.
Conclusion: Use Negative Keywords On Amazon
In conclusion, negative keywords are a powerful tool for optimizing your Amazon PPC campaigns in 2023. By effectively using negative keywords, you can prevent your ads from appearing on irrelevant searches and avoid wasting ad spend.
This will ultimately improve your ad performance and increase the visibility of your products to the right audience. Don’t underestimate the impact of negative keywords – they can make or break your advertising success on Amazon.
So take the time to research and implement them strategically, and watch your sales soar to new heights.
Did anything in this article spark your curiosity or bring up a question? Comment below or email us at [email protected]. We love talking about PPC!
Pingback: Introduction to Basic Keyword Match Types in Amazon PPC (and How to Use Them) – Amazon PPC Marketing Agency